At least eight Republican women have been newly elected to the House, versus four for the Democrats. In the too-close-to-call races, two Republican women and two Democratic women are still in the running for seats.

But the picture overall for women in Congress is less-than-stellar. In fact, when the final races are decided, it’s possible women may lose seats in Congress (House and Senate combined) for the first time in 32 years.

If Senator Murkowski wins, women will hold steady at 17 in the Senate (12 Democrats and five Republicans). In the House, which currently has 73 female members, women need to win in three of the four as-yet-undecided races that involve women to maintain current numbers.

If women hold steady at 90 members, between the two chambers, this will be the first year since 1987 that women have not made gains in numbers. If the number winds up below 90, it will be the first year since 1979 that women have lost ground in Congress.

Republican women could have done even better than they did, if more of the record number of female GOP candidates had won their primaries.

Numbers for state legislatures are still coming in. But CAWP already sees a “significant drop” in the number of women state legislators, because a lot of Democratic women lost and many were replaced by Republican men. That will hurt the future of women in politics, especially Democratic women, as state legislatures are a training ground for higher office.